According to Litmus subscribers spend an average of 11.1 seconds on an email. If you want to beat that average your emails must stand out from the competition and offer value to your subscribers. Here are proven strategies for effective email campaigns that you can use to maximize the impact of your email marketing.
Segment Your Email List
One of the keys to effective email campaigns is to ensure that you are sending the right message to the right people. By segmenting your email list based on demographics, behavior, interests and other key factors, you can create targeted campaigns that resonate with each group.
If your subscribers don’t find anything useful in your email within 11 seconds, not only will they move on but they will stop opening them.
Segmenting your list might mean sending to less subscribers but go for quality and in the long run you will see an improvement in your ROI.
Create a preference centre
To create effective segments, ask your subscribers what they are interested in. The most common way of doing this is by creating a preference centre. Include a link to your preference centre in your welcome email and in the footer of all future communications. A preference centre can also reduce unsubscribes by giving your audience the chance to opt out of particular topics.
Create a welcome series
A welcome series can increase the length of time a subscriber stays engaged with your emails. When you get a new subscriber send them a welcome email immediately. This should be short, concise and informative. Iterate your unique selling points, and the features you can offer.
Follow up your welcome email with a series of 2-3 emails over the next few days. The frequency is very much dependent on how long you expect a potential customer to be active in the market.
Each email should focus on one key feature of your service with the intention to outline the benefit to your subscriber.
Having a welcome series can increase sales and improve your email marketing ROI by engaging the user when they are most interested in your service or product.
Tools like Sendinblue will allow you to automate your welcome series.
Personalize Your Emails
Personalization is another key to success in email marketing. By including the recipient’s name, location, or other personal information, you can create a more intimate and engaging experience for the recipient. Personalized subject lines are also shown to increase open rates, making it an effective strategy for boosting the impact of your campaigns.
You can go one step further and use dynamic content. This feature is available in several email marketing platforms and allows you to show content based on conditions. You can send one email to your list but parts of your content, like featured products can be different based on your subscribers interests.
Here is a great example of a personalised email with a human touch and someone to reply to.
Create a Strong Call to Action
Every email campaign should have a clear call to action (CTA) that guides the recipient towards the desired outcome. This could be anything from making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or downloading a resource. Make sure your CTA is prominent and easy to understand, and that it aligns with the overall goals of your campaign.
Also remember to have a call to action ‘above the fold’. That means on the visible part of the screen before the user has to scroll. This will increase your click rates as a lot of your audience might not scroll to the bottom.
Optimize for Mobile
With the majority of emails being opened on mobile devices, it’s critical to ensure that your email campaigns are optimized for these devices. This includes using responsive design, keeping your content concise, and making sure your CTA is easily clickable on a small screen.
Stripo.email is a drag and drop builder for HTML emails that requires 0 coding knowledge. You will also find free templates that you can use that are optimised for mobile.
Use a Sense of Urgency
Creating a sense of urgency can be a powerful tool in email marketing, motivating the recipient to take action immediately. You can do this by using language like “limited time only” or “while stocks last,” or by highlighting the benefits of taking action right away.
Keep in mind, the action should benefit the recipient, so offer a discount for a limited time or a free gift if they act quickly.
Here is a good example from Uber:
Test, Test, Test Your Way To Effective Email Campaigns
The only way to know what works best for your audience is to test different elements of your email campaigns. This could include testing different subject lines, sending times, or calls to action. Use split testing to measure the impact of these changes, and continuously refine and optimize your campaigns based on the results.
Split test functionality is available in most email marketing platforms and is easy to setup. Start by testing your subject line, see how you can grow your opens and then move on to testing your content to grow your clicks.
Make it Visual
Visuals can be a powerful way to engage with your audience, and can help to break up text-heavy emails. Use images, videos, and other visual elements to make your campaigns more attractive and memorable.
Use a Consistent Brand Voice
Your email campaigns should reflect the voice and tone of your brand, helping to create a consistent experience for your audience. This includes using a consistent header and footer, as well as a recognizable sender name and email address.
Try to avoid words like ‘no-reply’ in your sending address. You want to be approachable and allow your customers to reach out to you.
Timing is Key
The timing of your email campaigns is critical to their success. Consider the time zone of your audience, as well as their typical email habits. For example, sending an email in the middle of the night is unlikely to be effective, while sending an email during the workday may have better results.
This varies across different industries which is why testing is key. For example, B2B emails are more effective during lunch hours.
Sendinblue, amongst other email marketing platforms, does have a feature that will optimise your email sending time based on previous behaviour.
Analyze and Refine
Finally, it’s important to continually analyze and refine your email campaigns. Use tools like Google Analytics and email marketing software to track the success of your campaigns, and make data-driven decisions to continuously improve their impact. If at all possible, measure how long a user stays engaged for and the average monetary value they offer. This can help you benchmark your performance and use this to set targets for your testing.
That’s our summary of ways to create effective email campaigns. If you need help with creating templates or a full strategy get in touch with us for a free consultation.
